Six Bodies Recovered, Five Missing In Niger Boat Mishap

Six bodies have been recovered following a boat mishap in the Mokwa Local Government Area of Niger State.

The ill-fated boat was carrying 48 passengers on Friday evening before tragedy struck at the Gbara area of the North-Central State.

Director General of the Niger state Emergency management agency, Ahmed Inga, confirmed the incident in a statement on Saturday.

He said the boat, which took off from Lanchikagi village of Lavun Local Government Area of the state was heading to Gbara village.

“Nsema has received a report of a boat mishap that occurred yesterday evening around 6:30 pm at the Gbara area of Mokwa LGA(River Kaduna). The boat which took off from Lanchikagi village of Lavun LGA was heading to Gbara village,” the statement read in part.

“There were 48 passengers on board and they were said to be returning from Danchitagi village market  (Lavun LGA) which comes up every Friday.

“As of the time of filing this report, 37 persons survived, 6 dead bodies were recovered and 5 persons still missing. The cause of the incident was as a result of heavy downpour which was accompanied by a violent windstorm.”

According to Inga, search and rescue operations are still ongoing to recover more bodies.

(ChannelsTV)